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We’ve been Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana photographers for a lonnnnng time. Feels like a good time to stretch our legs, and flex our muscles. The past couple of years we’ve decided that we are destination wedding photographers, since we’re thrilled to go anywhere with our tools. That was a no-brainer. It’s now time we … Continue reading We ARE Indianapolis Wedding Photographers

After relocating here over a year ago, we realize we need to embed a little better. It’s time to come out of our comfortable success story and act hungry for a while, to get your attention. That’s why we’ve decided to offer $1000 off what would ordinarily be YOUR wedding’s charges, after we hear about … Continue reading Save $1000 on Wabash Wedding Photography

Maddy and Andrew had their first baby a few short weeks ago. I had taken their engagement portraits a couple of years ago, but not their wedding. Maddy grew up in Northern Michigan and they had a local photographer do that for them. When Maddy called me to ask if we’d visit, she started out … Continue reading Maddy and Andrew’s House / Fort Wayne Family Photography

We are working with two of the best beauty experts in the area, and offering you something we don’t think anyone else is doing! You and your girlfriends can have a safe and fun time, doing something you’ve always said would be a BLAST! Some wine, a safe place, some little pretties to make you feel like the beauty you are, and your girl posse reinforcements to help you feel brave! Nothing too raunchy. Just gorgeous you (whatever your size), in the comfort of a place you feel safe, a beauty expert, other girlfriends (or not), and me ~~ Suzanne. The outcome? PROOF that you really ARE amazingly beautiful, and that you are bolder than you thought you could be! Then a boxed set of that proof, as a gift for someone else, or simply something for you to slip into a drawer and remind yourself that you do rock….just like you secretly thought you did.

Have questions? OF COURSE you do! Call.

This process ordinarily costs $500.00, and reaps a gift of 10 fine art 8x10s in a luxurious boxed set. This months’ promotion (separate from this offer) adds a beautiful leather album to that! All you have to do is book your session this month for any future date!

The weather is cooler, and there are less calls and emails between now and January. The wind is howling outside from the edge of the hurricane, and it’s just not pretty out there. I’ve been indoors a lot this past few weeks, so I’ve been cleaning a lot.

I’ve gotten so ambitious, and honestly so curious and bored that I have decided to look inside boxes I have been moving around for years and years. (There is a digging deep metaphor that applies here that I don’t want to be lost on you!) My birthday is next week, which brings me to TWO years older than dirt, and it’s time to move the fur and dust inside those boxes aside, and look hard at what’s in them.

I’m a hoarder, I’ll admit it. I had a talk with a friend many years ago when he asked me why I still had every Daytimer from the time I moved out of my parent’s house. I opened one up, and showed him why. “Deb’s birthday party Friday, bring rum and a blanket.” “Going to David’s wedding? RSVP by May.” “I just don’t want to forget”, I told him. (It still brings big tears to my eyes.) “If I throw them out, I might forget.” He gave me the biggest hug. I kept them for a few years after that conversation, scoured them again, and then I burned them in the back yard in a slightly boozy ceremony all by myself on a night a lot like tonight.

Today I found all the notes my ex-husband and I wrote back and forth. We were too busy to see each other because we were working so hard, and they are so sweet and so dense with info while being just a fleeting message, often with arrows to who-knows-what beside the pad saying things like “enjoy, you deserve it”, etc. We really loved each other once, before life happened to us and we handled it badly. I found a letter my brother wrote in a birthday card that made me cry then, and makes me cry today. (He’s wicked with words, too.) I found letters from my sister from times when she lived far away and then I did.

Slipped in many of the envelopes today were pictures. My daughter kept asking “What?!” as I’d sigh too loud, or burst into shrill laughter, or just a single “OH!”. I was young and pretty once. Other people told me, but I never believed it. In fact quite the contrary. My friends were young and pretty too, and we had fun. I can prove it!

My words of wisdom for the day are these: PRINT YOUR PICTURES. Take the time and the effort once in a while to have something you can hold in your hand, put in your purse or wallet, and send to your friend for their fridge or their desk. Print them so your kids and grandkids can say “You wore THAT?!”

I told a client the other day “I want to make sure you have at least one thing in your home I’m responsible for creating about which people walk in and say “WOW”!” With all the talk, much of it mine lately, about digital files vs prints…just make sure some of your life is on hard copy. It’s way more important than you may think right now.

“……………Time it was, and what a time it was, it was A time of innocence, a time of confidences Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph Preserve your memories, they’re all that’s left you……” Paul Simon

Wedding coordinator for your wedding day? Wouldn’t it be great?! No one asks you where the pew bows are, or when the florist should be there. It WILL be great, because beginning next year, we will take care of all that for you.

We’ve seen the need, we’ve discussed it, and we’ve decided we can provide this better than anyone. Who knows the timeline of your day better than we do? Who knows what’s most important and what you really do NOT want better than we do? It’s a no brainer, and we are psyched about it! We have hired someone with supreme organization, and an eye for detail to begin caring for our brides all day long. It’s someone we’ve known for years, and who has a proven track record of caring for people in a way that makes them feel heard and cared for! You’ll love her as much as we do!

This is just another way for you to get the care you deserve to enjoy your wedding day, and let us provide you with what you need most! A day of your own with your lover, pulled off like clockwork because we take the stress and leave you the fun!

I was so lucky to be able to shoot this wedding for these two in this incredible venue!

They responded to a promotion we had offered earlier this year trying to get into cool places where we had not previously worked. I got to shoot their engagement and then made a movie poster for their wedding day in an old restored theater, The Philmore on Broadway. The theme of their wedding was old movie love stories! Charming and fun, and in such a cool place!

Ean and Jessica are crazy about each other! So much so that after the wedding, when it was time to kiss his bride, he didn’t want to stop, and lunged forward to get another kiss before they were proclaimed husband and wife. Their dinner was divine, flowers from Armstrongs were impeccable as always, and the day and night ran like clockwork thanks to a wedding planner we were so impressed with; Shawna at LaBella Eden, and her assistant Robin.

Congratulations Vanstroms! Thank you for choosing us! Here’s to a long and wonderful life together!

This wedding day was damp, but still beautiful. Nazareth Hall in Grand Rapids Ohio sits on many acres of old trees and rolling hills. The landscape is really beautiful, and so well established that it really lends to the historical feel of the venue. In fact it is an old military school, with locker lined hallways, and big class rooms, along with restored dining halls and a refurbished gymnasium that now act as reception areas. Of course we had hoped to use this landscape as a backdrop, but just before the wedding ceremony began, it was moved from the grotto to the lovely little chapel upstairs due to the pouring rain that had threatened to fall all day.

Mindi had planned this entire wedding from Tulsa Oklahoma where Mark and she live and work. From the home-made cookies as favors, and the colorful candy bar for the guests, the entire event meant fun and family. The dance floor stayed full, and the smiles were stuck hard and fast on everyone’s faces all night. The joy and mirth could not be drowned out by the downpour.

They will be moving back to Ohio soon, closer to family. We wish them the very best of luck, and happiness forever and ever!

♥♥ Christen and Kyle Ellis’s wedding happened in the dark, after a tornado, MOMENTS after the power outage that tortured us all for the next week! We drove in ditches, around downed trees and power lines, and sweat like cattle. It was most certainly stormy weather of the most literal kind! Very few times have I counted on all the experience I have had with a camera in my hand to this extent. People chuckle sometimes when they see me come through the door with my rolling toolbox of tricks and extra gadgets, but they came in handy this night including extra flashes, extra tripods, white boards. and so much more. If you consider hiring a photographer who is just starting out, pray for ANYTHING but a night like this. Someone who shows up with their shoulder bag, filled with their flash and their camera body would have made this wedding invisible.

Their wedding went successfully though, with serene smiles on their faces, and a group of loving family around them, in a room with very little natural light. It is for that reason that I ask you to forgive the shadows. ♥♥

At the end of the day, downtown in Fort Wayne’s beloved History Center, it was all good. Fort Wayne Pro DJs spun music to keep people on their feet.The weather was a distant memory, and it had blown away some heat, temporarily. We went off on our own (which you know by now I LOVE to do) and got the tipsy love birds doing what lovebirds do best. We didn’t care by that time that none of our homes had power. We were giddy, and silly and happy. It was a good GOOD day after all.

When I met Jordan and Jeff, we had spoken many times, on the phone, thru text and email, we Facebooked, and then it was time for engagement photos. We went downtown with Abe, their son, a very long-legged wonderful black lab.

Fast forward to June 30, one of the hottest days this year and the day after the tornado that caused such harm to our area. The wedding was in Fremont Indiana, at Old Mill Shoppes and Art Gallery. It is an old village moved there by the owners, and it is a very special place! There is not one inch that is not picturesque, but in keeping with its old fashioned decor, there is no air conditioning. It did not faze our lovebirds, though. There was very little room for all the friends and family, three videographers and the two of us, and it made the tiny building even hotter, but nonetheless, it was an amazingly gorgeous wedding, and the country details Jeff and Jordan put together were exquisite!

George turned 18 months, and Sara (one of my former brides) called and asked me to help celebrate it! We started in Foster Park and it became clear right away that water is what turns George on! We spent part of the day at Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne, and then I got to see George’s house and his toys!I love being a family photographer. These images of when Eden was so small are so precious to me. They take me back and warm my heart in a way nothing else does. Being able to do this for others is a blessing to me, too!

I’ve worked with Doug Loraine and Rachel Dennis Loraine for over a year, photographed their engagement, and facebooked, texted, emailed and called all the way through the planning of the wedding. She was so worried and the week prior to the wedding, she barely slept, and needed a trip to the doctor. She didn’t need to worry. When you plan that far ahead, you really do have time to think of everything.

When it finally came, it was a blast! The classic car, the cool personalized runner, the sun glasses for everyone, the jello shots….it all went off without a hitch. Colorful, and wonderful! Congratulations guys, and thanks for trusting me as your photographer!

A special shout out to Brandon Wittwer, my right hand man, and artist in his own right! Kissy noises!